OK, I'm still making some final decisions on my all evil party, and I know people are not going to like this idea, but still I'm going to throw this out there. I'm considering going through BGI first with a dwarf warrior, and then switch him over to a beserker in BGII. I know, I can hear it already, why in the world would you want two dwarven beserkers in a party, and isn't Korgan enough?

Well, the way I see it, two is better than one, and my dwarven beserker would be Korgan's superior. Someone that Korgan could really look up to. Since I'm taking him through BGI, I would have the following statistics (assuming I use all the tomes):

Strength: 19
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 20 (REGENERATION!)
Charisma: 17 (dwarves have a max of 16 upon character creation)
Wisdom/Intelligence: It doesn't matter what your wisdom and intelligence is (spoken like the Rock would, of course)

Also, I don't need to use the gauntlets of dexterity to keep my -4 AC bonus, because being evil, I don't have to worry about choosing the "good" path in the trials!

My party would be as such:

Frontliners:

Me (dwarven beserker) I would get mastery in halberds, two handed weapons, and spears (as hardly anyone uses them and there are many options for these in the game.

Korgan: Axes and war hammers

Optional third frontliner:

Anomen - making him fail his test of course. He would use flails and maces.

Back row/spell chuckers/missile weapon users:

Viconia - hey, she's one of only 3 evil NPC's and I need another healer

Jan - need a thief

Edwin - the bomb of all mages.

I would probably drop Anomen once I hit TOB and pick up Sarevok. Well I'd definitely pick up Sarevok - I guess the choice of who to drop boils down to Anomen and Jan, and since I really would prefer to have a thief and a second mage, there really isn't much af a decision here...

OK, the other question - throwing alignment and party interaction out the window, what would be the uber-party? The only thing we would have to eliminate is characters that would come to blows with each other - so Minsc/Edwin won't work, and Aerie/Korgan in SoA won't work, plus a couple of others.

The best two frontliners would have to be Korgan and Keldorn. Vicnoia and Jaheira would probably share cleric duties, and you have to take Edwin as your mage. Which leaves you with the PC as a thief or thief split class. What would you pick?

katana-user fighter/thief, either multiclass halforc or dual human (9/x). halforc is the better one i think.

Make your protagonist a half-elf or half-orc F/T, ditch annoying man and just have a five man party until TOB. Your characters level up faster, which is more important than having an extra cleric with moderate fighting prowess. If you absolutely are set on six characters, then I suppose you can keep him. (BTW, this presupposes that you're not adding modded NPC's -- otherwise, add Valen, add Sola, skip Jan, and make your PC an anti-paladin.) Also, have your protagonist dual wield, say, katanas and something else like axes or long swords, or use the halberds and spears if that's what you want. There's nothing more ridiculous looking than a dwarf with a halberd.

Also, multi-class over dual class as has been discussed ad nauseum.

If you want, get the Solaufein mod and grab Sola. I say ditch Annoyman, even though he's MUCH more likeable if he fails his test, because you already have Viconia and Korgan and you pretty much make up the frontline all by themselves.

Edit: Ever considered having Korgan dual-wield Axes? He's even more powerful when doing so...

How would Viconia get in your party? If you were 'All evil, all the time' I would doubt you would try and save her. In fact, you would probably revel in watching her burn.

I'm not sure how Viconia could end up in any non-good or non-chaotic party, if you're reasonably playing your alignment, that is.

Viconia is a hottie. So, any male would probably want to save her and maybe she could, ah, reward you, if you know what I mean... ;) :p

not to save viconia would be chaotic evil because this means you care for none. neutral evils care for all beings and stuff that improves her/his power, lawful evil will even follow the law to do so.
obviously you have to save viconia if you are evil. imagine the roleplay aspect to have a drow in your party : you will be THE evil one to have a darthiir with you and your rep drops automatically to show this.

but yes, i understand you to see goodness in viconia at all cost because you have to defend a (in my eyes) not so good part of the game, the possibility to have the best cleric in a good party as well as the hottest romance.
i say i see NO reason to convert a drow to be a goodiegoodie. the good pc always claims he/she wants no power so leave the power-chars at the evil side and stay with minsc aerie and such lucky-to-exist stumblers. converting viconia makes you the real mindflayer IMO.

Viconia is a hottie. So, any male would probably want to save her and maybe she could, ah, reward you, if you know what I mean... You got that right :D .

I'll make it:

Dolgan Silverhammer - berserker
Dual-wielding
Crom Fayer +
Axe of Unielding +5
Str: 25
Dex: 18
Const: 20
Int: (anything about 10
Wis: will be enough)
Cha: who cares - Ring of Human Influence is here... :)

And good... Good brave dwarf. Neutral Good... But I don't see much point in playing evil... No point is there...

There's nothing more ridiculous looking than a dwarf with a halberd.
That's kind of the point. That's why spears and possibly two-handed swords are high on the list as well. Nothing funnier than a four foot tall person wielding a 6+ foot long weapon.

Well, I can't take proficiencies in both axes and war hammers if I'm taking Korgan along, as we will be competing for the same weapons. Korgan starts as a grandmaster with axes, and is proficient with war hammers, so it makes sense to have him continue in that path.

There is only one really good axe in the game, and two really good war hammers. Anyway, if I wish to dual wield both of them, I'm going to be short a weapon. I could pick war hammers and something else. Perhaps long swords or bastard swords.

And good... Good brave dwarf. Neutral Good... But I don't see much point in playing evil... No point is there... If I made him a good dwarf, I would be defeating the entire purpose of the party - I started out saying I wanted an evil party.

[ July 15, 2003, 20:10: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]

And not to mention that it takes a true roleplayer to play an utterly evil party and live with the expensive shops that a low rep. brings and the experience penalties that come from solving quests in an evil way.

Bah. Why can't they make a game which favors evil as much as good?

My evil party, 2nd time through BG2. ( That's a long time ago. )

Charname: Human male Kensai dual wielding katanas with grandmastery and high mastery in longswords during TOB so that I could use Angurdaval along with Celestial Fury/Hindo's Doom.

Edwin.

Sarevok.

Viconia.

Imoen. (Boy was she miserable with a rep of 1)

Korgan.

The game was way more difficult than my first time through with a neutral party as I had no Keldorn with the overpowered Carsomyr, Anomen's clerical spells combined with his fighting prowess, amongst other things. Still, I preservered and made it through. And I managed to drop by and massacre the Radiant Heart, the Temple of Lathander and Helm along the way.

@ Shura - COOL!!!

Do you happen to know at what reputation town guards automatically spawn and attack you? That would be kind of annoying to have that constantly happen, so I'd like to avoid that if possible. The higher prices for shop items are no big deal though, especially since Cromwell and Cepenar don't raise their prices regardless of your reputation.

@ Deathmage - Korgan would definitely be wielding two axes throughout most of SoA. However, I think that having him switch to Runehammer or Crom Faeyr is the better option than keeping him with two axes throughout ToB. There's only one +5 axe in the game (Axe of the Unyielding), and no +4 axes (except the one that's thrown, and that can't be dual wielded), whereas Runehammer is +5, and Crom Faeyr is +4 along with the strength bonus. You maximize damage in ToB, by putting AotUY in your main hand, and either Runehammer (if fighting undead) or Crom Faeyr (for non-undead) in your offhand.

Do you happen to know at what reputation town guards automatically spawn and attack you? That would be kind of annoying to have that constantly happen, so I'd like to avoid that if possible. 3-1 Chance of a group of Cowled Wizards and/or Knights of the Heart spawning and moving towards the target.
0 Everyone is hostile

Thanks. So keeping a reputation of 4 is key. Actually, I just want to hear what the evil characters say to you when you have a low reputation. I have heard them complain when your reputation gets up into the teens, but never compliment you as it goes down.

@ N N I take it you know already?

It's been almost a year since I played an evil party. I haven't played for a while and now I'm only going solo. As far as I know they do respond to a lower reputation, but I can't remember what they say. You're going to have to find out for yourself :D .

they have nice comments i assure you :)

if your party is lvl ~10 there is no reason not to have rep 1. the cowled fools and their knights are no worthy enemies. they are all very susceptable to 'hold person' (viconia) . even the wizards will freeze regardless of their spell defenses.

@ Deathmage - Korgan would definitely be wielding two axes throughout most of SoA. However, I think that having him switch to Runehammer or Crom Faeyr is the better option than keeping him with two axes throughout ToB. There's only one +5 axe in the game (Axe of the Unyielding), and no +4 axes (except the one that's thrown, and that can't be dual wielded), whereas Runehammer is +5, and Crom Faeyr is +4 along with the strength bonus. You maximize damage in ToB, by putting AotUY in your main hand, and either Runehammer (if fighting undead) or Crom Faeyr (for non-undead) in your offhand.Exactly that's my plan for my berserker... Develop him in Hammers and when I enter I'll be 5 on hammers, 3 on dualwielding and 2 or 3 - dunno on axes. A complete machine, unstoppable and mad... :)

@Elan

You should probably be able to be grandmaster in both axes and hammers by the time you get to ToB, or at least not very far into it. Fighters start with 4, and get 1 proficiency point every 3 levels. So you need 13 points altogether. That's level 27, which occurs at 4.75 million. That's still fairly early in ToB. You'll probably hit that somewhere in WK.

Actually, I would probably develop him in axes first, as you will be using axes primarily in SoA, and once you acquire the axe of the unyielding, it will be your main hand weapon the rest of the game. You want to be most proficient for the weapon you wield with your main hand, and for most of SoA and ToB, that's going to be an axe.

You could always get Korgan to dual wield Axes and Hammers. Runehammer and Axe of the Unyielding!

Once your party is strong enough, it's quite beneficial to kill all those guards coming after you. They give some good experience...oh, and you probably shouldn't pay the Coward Wizards their little fee. Let them come after you every time Edwin cast magic. In the end, they'll send a couple of powerful mages after you (as in, mages who can cast Time Stop).